Sunday, November 25, 2012

Gougères, Take Two

Remember those gougères I raved about back on November 13th? Well, I made them again to take to Thanksgiving dinner. Since they are little puffs of flavor, I thought they'd be more welcome at the feast than heavy dinner rolls. When they came out of the oven, there were ooohs and aaahs from the assembled guests - they look quite dramatic and difficult which, of course, they are not. Everyone took one to taste while they were still hot, tossing them from hand to hand to cool before breaking in to the herb-scented middle and taking a bite. Lots of compliments. Nicely rewarding for the cook, I must say.Still, Thanksgiving being the feast that it is, we had so many dishes to try that there were actually some gougères left over, so the daughters, who had cooked all the rest of the meal, wrapped them up to send home with us. When I discovered them yesterday, I did a happy dance right there in the kitchen, as I had been thinking that they'd make great substrates for turkey sandwiches.And, they did. They were only about the size of silver dollars, but they made tasty little sandwiches with a small slice of turkey, a dab of cranberry sauce and a leaf of lettuce. The herbal flavor added to the pleasure of what is to my mind the very best part of Thanksgiving - the sandwiches the next day. While we were enjoying our sandwiches, I remarked that if I made the next batch a tad bigger, they'd make great slider buns, both lighter and more flavorful than regular slider buns. So, now I'm all fired up to try making them bigger. In the meantime, these smaller ones would be a great way to surround different nibbles for holiday parties - crab salad, rare roast beef, ham and cheese, the ideas are endless. And we are hosting a holiday party this year, so I'm glad I know how to make some easy canapés, thanks to Take Two of the gougères.